Whisky Lullaby
by germantownotter
Summary: Polarshipping. Just a stupid mistake. A stupid, drunken mistake. But it shattered Jounouchi before Mai could explain. Death awaits...


Hi there! Germantownmaiden here with another story with Sara Darkotter.

She brought it up and I knew it was a good idea doing this story because it _did_ fit them perfectly. And today, I was in a mood to write something sad so I took her idea and did all this.

**_NOTE!:_** I found it much better, when reading a Songfic, to go on youtube and look up the song and play it so you can listen to it along with reading it. :)

S/N:Yeah. What German said. Gotta say, this made ME a little teary-eyed. So just warning you.

Disclaimer!: Sara Darkotter and Germantownmaiden do not own Whiskey Lullaby by Brad Paisley and along with Alison Krauss (who sang it with him)

We don't own Yu-Gi-Oh either.

* * *

Whiskey Lullaby

Joey sat on the bus, on his way home to Domino City. The battle still rang in his ears, the screams of people dying . . .

He shook his head and pulled out a picture of Mai and him, before he left.

(Flashback)

He picked Mai up and spun her around before he put her down. "I'll love you forever Mai." He whispered to her. She smiled and cupped his face in her hands.

"You come home, then we'll start our family." She said.

They stared in each other's eyes until Joey kissed her one last time.

_Joey . . . _

_Joey! _

(End of Flashback)

"Hey man, you're home." A man said from behind him. Joey looked behind him to look at the man before looking forward.

"This is your stop son." The old bus driver said. Joey got up from his seat, slightly slow, and got his bag from the racks on the bus.

"I'm up," he muttered while grabbing his bag. He shook a young man's hand, a soldier he had come to know while fighting on the battle field, and walked to the front of the bus.

"You're at home son." The old bus driver said just as Joey came to the front. He opened the door and before Joey could leave he said, "We appreciate what you did."

Joey looked back at him, smiled a bit. "We did what we had to." He said and looked at the house that he shared with Mai.

"Is there a Mrs.'s?" he asked. Joey looked back and nodded.

"It's been awhile since I've been home." He said softly. The bus driver looked at him in understanding.

"Go start your life son." He said. Joey looked back again, a bit surprised but smiled a little brighter this time.

"Thank you sir." He said and got off the bus. He practically ran to the house to see Mai. When he walked in he set his bag down and looked at the photos that covered the walls. He smiled at the memories laughing softly.

Suddenly he heard Mai giggle from the second floor. He grinned and walked up stairs, eager to see her again. When he got the door he stopped and opened it up and was blown away.

Mai looked up from the young man in the bed and stared at Joey in shock and then lowered her gaze to the ground. Joey stood their, not confused, not angry, but disappointed. He turned around and walked downstairs; he grabbed his bag and went outside where his motorcycle was.

He started it up and road away. Mai ran out just before he hit the road, begging. "Joey! Wait, please . . ." she called out but he ignored her and continued on, straight for the willow tree.

Mai stood their on the porch, running her hands through her hair, tears stung her eyes as she watched him go.

_She put him out, like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette _

Joey stood in the shade of the willow tree, tears freely running down his face. He grabbed his bag and unzipped it, looking for his ticket out of this pain . . . hopefully.

He pulled out a bottle of whiskey, one that his Dad, surprisingly, gave him. He had told him the war was hell, and he was right, and that he might need the bottle. Joey twisted the lid off and took a drink.

It hurt his throat, made his eyes water, before he realized that the pain didn't go away.

_She broke his heart; he spent his whole life tryin' to forget_

Joey stumbled down an ally and sat down behind an old truck that sat there. Mai's car drove by; she looked down the same ally way for Joey, wanting to explain, even though she knew she couldn't.

_We watched him drink his pain away, a little at a time_

"Joey, stop!" Atem begged as his friend stumbled out the door. Tristan walked past him along with Yugi and tried to stop him physically. Atem went to join them but Joey refused to let them stop him, if he wanted to drink his life away like his old man then he would.

Before long Yugi went down holding his chin where Joey had given him a good hit. Now it was just Atem and Tristan. But they fell to the ground, Tristan holding his cheek and Atem holding his gut.

Atem looked up to see him get on the bike and ride away. "Joey!" he called out, hoping that his old friend would turn around but he just kept going. He bit the bottom of his lip before he heard his name. "Atem!"

He turned around to his wife, Anzu with a little girl that looked just like him, staring wide-eyed. "You couldn't . . .?" He got up slowly and shook his head sadly before helping Yugi and Tristan up.

_But he never could get drunk enough to get her off his mind_

Joey walked out of a bar with Mai still on his mind. He ground his teeth together and let out a shaky sob. He looked over to see a large liquor store. He turned to his pockets; he had a hundred dollars left, why not?

_Until the night_

Joey opened his door and put his two bags of whiskey on the table and got to work.

_He put that bottle to his head and pulled the trigger_

He drank the first one in maybe five gulps before he went for the second one, then the third, and the forth, and the fifth . . .

_And finally drank away her memory_

Joey opened his eyes, tears were flying down his face, he had finally done it, she was gone. Suddenly he had a huge sense of loss and broke down. He didn't _want_ her to be gone!

_Life is short, but this it was bigger_

Joey threw the empty bottles at the wall, tears still cascading from his eyes. He grabbed another bottle, the last one from his first bag and drank it even faster. His tears mixed with the whiskey as he finished the bottle.

When he found it empty he yelled and threw it against the wall. He went for the second bag. He would drink it all, even if it killed him.

_Than the strength he had to get up off his knees_

Joey got up from the ground; he could feel his life draining from his body. With tears still in his eyes he went for the dresser and wrote a message down as best he could.

He looked over at his bed and got up and fell to the soft sheets, he buried his face into his pillow and gripped the note as the world went dark.

_We found him with his face down in the pillow_

The next morning Atem, Yugi, and Tristan walked in his front door calling his name. Atem looked around and noticed two bags and some broken empty bottles. Reality hit him then.

"NO!" he gasped and ran upstairs.

"What's up Atem?" Tristan asked as he and Yugi ran up. Atem kicked Joey's door in and sunk to his knees.

"No, no, no, no, no!" he cried. His tears welled up around his eyes. Joey lay there on his bed, not moving, not breathing.

"Joey! Joey?" Tristan called, but Joey still did not move. Finally reality hit Yugi and Tristan as well. Yugi gripped Atem's shoulder while Tristan leaned against the wall.

Atem got up and went over to his friend, he was gripping a note.

_With a note that said I'll love her till I die_

Atem squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them again. He turned to Tristan and Yugi.

"Tristan, since you're Serenity's husband I think you need to break the news to her, and Yugi, tell Mai that we found him."

They nodded and turned around and ran downstairs. Atem turned back to his friend and flipped him over. He looked like he was asleep, sleeping peacefully instead of being dead. He took the note and flipped it over.

There was another message, _bury me bellow the willow tree._ Atem stared at the note in shock. Joey _knew _he was going to die, and that only made it worse.

_And when we buried him beneath the willow_

They stood and listened to the preacher say the last words before they buried Joey. His mother and sister stood on the right side while Mai and his friends stood on the left side.

Joey's mother glared daggers at Mai while Serenity looked _very _uncomfortable standing next to her but Mai ignored her mother-in-law and continued to stare at her husband's grave. A single tear slid down her cheek.

_The angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la . . ._

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la . . ._

Mai was the last to leave, but one thing bothered her, why didn't Joey tell the gang about what she had done?

_The rumors flew, but nobody knew how much she blamed herself_

Mai sat in a bar with a shot of whiskey, she over heard a bunch of women, their leader Vivian, spreading rumors.

"I heard he took a gun to his head." One of them said.

"Ya don't say, I think it sounds just like the loser to do something like that." Vivian laughed. Mai got up and walked over to Vivian. Everyone went silent but Vivian just kept talking bad about Joey.

Mai yanked Vivian and smacked the living day-lights out of her. When she was done she hissed. "Watch what you say you bitch, you never know who could be listening. You were just lucky I was here and not Atem or the others, because your ugly face would have been trashed."

She whipped around and walked out of the bar. Once she was out the door Vivian followed, but she ran in the opposite direction with her gaggle of so-called 'friends'.

_For years and years, she tried to hid the whiskey on her breath_

Mai scrabbled for her perfume and maybe a breath mint. She was going out with the girls tonight and she didn't want them to think that she had already gone out.

She looked in the mirror and looked at the sad excuse of a woman. She had driven her husband away all because of a stupid mistake that she should have said no to. But no, she had to drink that night, she had to get drunk.

She shook her head and walked outside before locking her door.

_She finally drank her pain away a little at a time_

"Mai, are you alright? You don't look so good" Kisara asked. Mai looked up from her glass of straight whiskey and smiled.

"I'm fine hon, just thinking." She said and turned back to the glass. Kisara turned to Anzu, Serenity, and Rebecca to ask but their sad gazes said it all. She was thinking about Joey.

_But she never could get drunk enough to get him off her mind_

"Are you sure you don't want company tonight Mai?" Anzu asked, now sharing Kisara's fear. Mai looked at her, a little drunk, and shook her head.

"No, I'm a different person when I'm drunk you guys, you don't need to see that." She said.

The girls looked at each other before they nodded and said good night. When Mai made sure they were gone she raced to her room and pulled up a floor board that revealed bottles and bottles of whiskey.

_Until the night_

Mai pulled out them all and got started. If she wanted to drink the pain away she would do it alone.

_She put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger_

She drank bottle after bottle but still Joey stayed. She pulled out more and continued to drink. She wouldn't stop until . . .

_And finally drank away his memory_

She drank her twentieth bottle. Why wasn't she dying? With so much she had drunk she should have been dead. Tears poured down her cheeks. Why couldn't she have mercy and be put of her misery?

Suddenly she realized he was gone. Gone, gone . . .

NO! She took it back she wanted him back! She grabbed an empty whiskey bottle, and just as Joey had done, threw it. She grabbed another bottle and drank more. What more could she do? She couldn't remember the one she loved now. So all that was left was to drink away.

_Life is short but this time it was bigger_

She leaned up against the wall, crying. She would finish the bottles off, she had to. And then she would hide them . . . no . . . she probably wouldn't have the strength to hide them all.

Mai remembered the scene of Joey's house, glass cracked all over the place, but one place stayed untouched, the pictures of them together, before she made that horrible mistake, before Joey went away.

_Than the strength she had to get up off her knees_

Mai got up and looked around for the picture, the one that she treasured. She stumbled up to her room and went to her dresser and grabbed his picture.

They were all at the lake together. They had gotten married there on the lake. She in a simple white dress and he in a nice black shirt and pants. Nothing big, but nothing too small. All she needed was his love.

She laid down on the bed she had once shared with him, gripping his picture, she cried into the pillow as her life left her body. She closed her eyes for the last time before she whispered. "Joey . . ."

_We found her with her face down in the pillow_

Anzu was stressed, she had been calling Mai all morning and all she got was voice mail. Serenity was going insane; she had been the first to call her. Anzu finally got fed up and went out to the car.

"Anzu, where are you going?" Atem asked. She turned around and sighed.

"To see why Mai's not responding."

"Do you want me to come with you?" he asked.

Anzu nodded and went to the passenger side while Atem got in. Their daughter sat in the back seat. "Raven! Go back in the house." Anzu scolded. The little girl crossed her arms, which meant, _I'm not moving one bit._

Anzu rolled her eyes and looked out the window as the houses passed by as they got closer to Mai's house. "Atem?"

"Hmm?"

"Why do you think Joey started to drink, did he tell you anything?"

"No, not one bit, which confuses me because he was always open about his problems. So whatever happened it must have been something horrible."

"Do you think it had something to do with the war?"

"Maybe." He said and spoke no more. Joey was a touché subject for him and the boys.

Atem pulled in the driveway and Anzu got out and sprinted over to the front door. Her front door was open, which made her panic immediately.

She ran upstairs and into Mai's room and she screamed. Mai was on her bed, unmoving, clinging to Joey's picture.

_Clinging to his picture for dear life_

Atem came in then. He gasped and caught Raven before she could enter the room.

"Atem, what do we do?" she asked softly. Atem sighed painfully and walked downstairs.

"The same what we did with Joey. We tell everyone and bury her beneath the willow."

_We laid her next to him beneath the willow_

They stood before Mai's fresh grave, listening to the same words from the preacher that had been said at Joey's funeral. Serenity had forbid her mother from coming because of last time. And this time she and Tristan stood on the right side along with everyone else.

When they all turned to leave a girl with black ebony hair and blond bangs turned around before leaving.

_While the angels sang a whiskey lullaby_

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la . . ._

The girl's eye's widened. Her Uncle Joey walked out from behind the willow tree. Her Aunt Mai seemed to materialize out of no where and she walked toward her Uncle. He looked her with sad, but firm eyes.

She watched as her Aunt Mai bowed her head.

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la . . ._

Raven continued to watch them. They stood there, looking at each other. Finally her Uncle smiled warmly and held out his hand. Her Aunt took his hand and hugged him.

Joey whirled her around.

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la . . ._

Joey put her down and slowly began to dance with her, a smile present on each of their faces. Raven smiled, happy to them back together. She turned around to catch up with her mother and father.

_La, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la._

_

* * *

_

Ok, I hoped you liked it. Sara helped me with the mistakes and stuff. Thank Sara. :)

Also, did any of you guys catch something at Mai's funeral? Remember when, at Joey's funeral his mom and sis stood on his right side. (For Family) Now look back at Mai's family. :) I thought that would be a nice touch.

S/N: I did.

If you folks could take a few moments to read and review _The Armageddons _which also on this account, we would be very thankful. The summary makes it sound all weird and awesome, but I think you folks might like it anyway. (This is for Yami/Anzu lovers)


End file.
